Almost everyone is well aware of the fact that liquid food can be supplied to a child from a bottle provided with a nipple, with such nipple often being held in place by virtue of mounting the nipple in a ring that is equipped with internal screw threads. Used with this nipple and ring is a bottle having external threads extending around the open end, so that by tightly screwing the ring onto the top of the bottle, a liquid tight arrangement is brought about. After the milk, orange juice or other liquid food has been fully administered, the ring is unscrewed from the top of the bottle so that a thorough washing of all of these components can be readily brought about.
Typically the mother or other care giver introduces the infant to spoon feeding in the age range of six to eight months, but sometimes the transition from nipple to spoon can be difficult for the infant.
My earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,348 provided a means whereby a transitional phase is set up during the baby""s development between the milk-nipple stage and the food-spoon stage. The administering of certain foods, such as semi-solid foods, in the early period of development becomes easier because of the baby""s familiarity with a nipple, and this makes subsequent spoon training faster and easier, because when a spoon is first presented with food in it, the baby will already be familiar with the food. Consequently, crossing the xe2x80x9cspoon barrierxe2x80x9d becomes a simple matter.
Another important consideration is the fact that when an infant is starting to take semi-solid and solid food, the possibility of choking can be a constant threat. Therefore, when a child is being given a piece of a hot dog, for example, the mother or other care giver should cut the hot dog longitudinally before cutting it into pieces. This is advisable because a generally cylindrically shaped piece of hot dog is of a configuration that could easily form a blockage in the throat of a child or impaired adult, and cause him or her to choke to death if help is not quickly forthcoming.
I am aware that there are many items on the market, such as baby crackers, baby cookies, baby toast and the like that are intended as snacks for an infant to chew on while teething or while the infant has only a few teeth. Even though such items are ostensibly for infants, it is nevertheless quite possible for an infant or impaired adult to break off a piece of such an item and choke on it.
In accordance with the teachings of my above-mentioned patent, I have provided a food dispensing member of fine mesh construction such that relatively soft, solid or semi-solid food items placed in the dispensing member can be dissolved by the person""s saliva and thereafter ingested, this being accomplished without any possibility of the person choking upon such food or any part of the feeder device.
Although my earlier issued patent has been quite successfully marketed as a xe2x80x9cBaby Safe Feeder,xe2x80x9d it is entirely possible that after a mother or other care give has washed out the food dispensing member of fine mesh construction and left it to dry in a location reachable by a child, the child could possibly grasp the mesh bag, place it in his or her mouth, and then choke on it.
It was in an effort to supplement and improve upon the safety of my previously patented device that the present invention was evolved.
In accordance with this invention, I provide a device for feeding food, typically semi-solid food, to a young child or to a person unable to manage the use of a fork or spoon, without the threat of the person choking. In other words, my invention is usable in the nursery, or in a location involving the administration of food by a care giver to a child, or to an adult with a physical or mental impairment.
This device comprises a handle member in combination with a food dispensing member in the form of an elongate container of fine mesh material that has an open end and a closed end. Through the open end semi-solid food can be inserted into the food dispensing member. The handle member has a generally circularly configured end upon which suitable securing means are disposed, with a ring member equipped with like means utilized in operative association with the handle member. In the preferred instance, the securing means take the form of threads, with internal threads on the ring member being readily able to be tightly interfitted with external threads of a like nature utilized on the circularly configured end of the handle. I provide suitable means for holding the aperture of the food dispensing member in a wide open position, with this means being of a diameter as to make it highly unlikely that the elongate container could be swallowed by a child or impaired adult. The insertion of semi-solid food into the food dispensing member is of course made easier because of its aperture being held in the wide open position.
The internally threaded ring or ring member has means enabling the aperture of the food dispensing member to be held in a secure relationship with respect to the circularly configured end of the handle member. As a consequence of this arrangement, upon semi-solid food being placed in the elongate container of mesh material, the internally threaded ring can be tightened upon the handle member so as to form a unitary device. The food dispensing member, upon then being placed in the mouth of the person, enables the food in latter member to at least partially dissolve in the mouth of the person.
In one embodiment of my invention, the internally threaded ring member takes the form of a ring assembly constituted by inner and outer interlocking ring portions, with the part of the food dispensing member adjacent the aperture of this member being locked tightly between the inner and outer ring portions. After being forced together, the ring portions become practically inseparable. The size of the interlocking ring portions is such as to make it virtually impossible for these to be swallowed.
In accordance with another embodiment of my invention, the aperture of the food dispensing member is held in a wide open position by a ring member in the form of a rigid ring. This rigid ring has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the circularly configured end of the handle member, upon which external threads are disposed, such that the rigid ring can be placed over the threads. An internally threaded ring serves to hold the rigid ring and the open end of the food dispensing member in firm engagement with the external threads of the handle member.
Like the embodiment involving the interlocked ring portions, the use of the rigid ring around the open end of the food dispensing member prevents it from being swallowed.
Examples of solid or semi-solid food that can be readily dissolved in the mouth of the person are pieces of bread, small pieces of cooked potato, pretzel pieces, Jello, certain cereals, cookie crumbs and rock candy. Further examples are carrots, apples, cooked or raw food and the like.
I typically construct the handle member of plastic, preferably a strong, industrial grade plastic, although I am not to be limited to this. Usually I create the mesh container out of suitable cloth.
It is thus to be seen that a primary object of this invention is to provide a feeding device for safely feeding an infant, small child or impaired adult by the use of an integral mesh bag in which semisolid food is contained, with such mesh bag being anchored to a ring-shaped member of sufficient size that it cannot be swallowed, even after the mesh bag has been removed from the handle member for washing.
It is another object of this invention to provide a feeding device of simple and straightforward configuration, that can be manufactured and marketed at a relatively low cost, yet forming an entirely safe feeding arrangement for a child or impaired adult.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a food dispensing member of fine mesh construction such that relatively soft, solid or semi-solid food items placed in the integral dispensing member can be dissolved by the person""s saliva and thereafter ingested, this being accomplished without any possibility of the person choking upon such food or at any time swallowing the dispensing member, even when the components have been separated for cleaning.
It is yet still another object of this invention to provide a means for tightly securing a food dispensing member of fine mesh construction upon a handle member, such that a child or impaired adult can readily learn to put the food dispensing member in his or her mouth and ingest the food value from the solid or semi-solid food placed in the dispensing member, without the subsequent separation of the food dispensing member from the handle member risking the person swallowing the dispensing member.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a multi-component feeding device that can be easily assembled when ready to be put into use, but which can be readily disassembled for sterilization subsequent to use, with no danger of any component of my device being swallowed by a child or impaired adult.
These and other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the appended figures of drawing.